Hours after the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, withdrew his men from the 23 local council secretariats in Rivers, suspected arsonists have set three council secretariats in the state ablaze. 

The affected secretariats; Emohua LG, Eleme LG, and Ikwerre LGA, were raised amid the crisis that soaked the state after the local council elections. 

The attacks came two days after APP cleared 22 out of the 23 LGs in the state during the weekend election.

Governor Simi Fubara had on Saturday conducted local government elections under the Action Peoples Party (APP) following the handover of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) structure to Nysome Wike. 

It was learned that some armed thugs, wielding guns, invaded the council secretariats, throwing the substances suspected to be dynamites, which set the facilities ablaze. 

Multiple video footage obtained by Peoples Gazette also showed how the buildings were razed with the widows of the secretariats shattered. 

Recall that Mr Wike, the former Rivers governor and minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), had been locked in a fierce battle with his successor, Mr Fubara, over the control of the state. 

The fight between Messrs Wike and Fubara had set off a turbulent political crisis that split the supporters of both men, thereby disrupting governance in the oil-rich state. 

When contacted on Monday by The Gazette, Grace Iringe-Koko, the police spokesperson in Rivers, promised to get back to our reporter.